“Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is warning rivals of possible legal action if they don’t stop trying to lure away its customers by hinting that continuing to do business with the breached payment processor could expose companies to fines by Visa Inc. for noncompliance with the PCI data security rules.

In a message posted on Heartland’s Web site on Monday, CEO Robert Carr said the company plans to sue competitors that don’t “immediately” stop making what he described as “baseless and unlawful” claims related to Visa’s removal of Heartland from its list of service providers that comply with the PCI rules.”

Fun times ahead for Heartlands especially as figures for their breach have not yet been released!